The adage "Good writers borrow; great writers steal" gets a thorough examination in the character-driven mystery/drama The Lesson.
Liam (Daryl McCormack) is an aspiring young writer hired to serve as a private tutor for the teenaged son (Stephen McMillan) of a famous author (Richard E. Grant) and his art curator wife (Julie Delpy). The author hasn't written anything in years but is working on a new novel. The family is still grieving from the loss of their other son, who drowned in the lake behind their estate. Of course, more is going on here than meets the eye.
On the positive side, the performances in The Lesson (directed by Alice Troughton) are very good. It's always a pleasure to see Grant and Delpy on screen and they deliver here. However, the story is a little too leisurely in getting going. There's a fine line between "methodically building tension" and "meandering" and sometimes The Lesson crosses it. There's also a frame story that takes away from potential tension. While it doesn't reveal everything to viewers, the opening scene still reveals too much while adding nothing to the story's impact.
It's not a bad film, but The Lesson never quite succeeds, either.
